The History of L
by Vexic929
Summary: Since it seems that the creators of Death Note are not going to write a back story for L or Watari I decided to do so. Contains spoilers for Chapter 58 of the manga and will contain spoilers for Death Note: Another Note.
1. Adoption

Quillish Wammy reached unsteadily for the button that would delete all data concerning the Kira case and ultimately alert L that he had been killed by Kira. As he pushed the button he recalled a time when things were better—when things weren't as terrifying and terrible as the times ahead would be. He remembered the day when he first met L.

The date was January 12, 1986. Quillish had just gotten a call from the local orphanage about a young boy—about 7 years of age—who they weren't quite sure what to do with. The boy was extremely antisocial—so much in fact that many of the caretakers wondered if the boy spoke English or even could speak at all. Mister Wammy was well known as being extremely intelligent and able to get along with anybody, so everyone at the orphanage agreed that if anyone could get through to the boy it would be him. And so, Quillish Wammy found himself knocking on the big oak doors of the orphanage that cold Sunday afternoon; not knowing that his meeting with the young boy would change his life forever.

A young woman greeted Quillish at the door and walked him to the boy's room. Quillish knocked and—receiving no response—entered the room. The boy was sitting on the floor when he entered and he stared at Quillish with big, dark, owlish eyes.

"I didn't say you could enter," he stated in a quiet, monotone voice.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't sure if you were going to respond or not; if you would like, I could go knock again."

"No, it's alright."

He stared at the floor while Quillish took in the boy's surroundings. No toys, no games, the room was plain with white walls and hardwood flooring.

"Are there no toys here?" He wondered aloud.

"There are toys…I don't like playing with them," the boy answered in a voice that was barely audible.

Quillish turned to the boy and sat down in front of him.

"Would you mind telling me your name?" He asked.

The boy looked up at him for a minute, contemplating on whether or not he should.

"My name is L."

"Just L?" The boy nodded.

"Do you have a last name?"

"Hai, Lawliet."

"And you speak Japanese? Well Mister Lawliet you are a remarkable young man."

L smiled slowly and asked, "do _you_ have a name?"

Quillish laughed.

"I'm sorry, I haven't properly introduced myself. My name is Quillish Wammy."

"It's nice to meet you Mister Wammy." L said and shook hands with him.

Quillish and L talked until dinner time when L was called down to the dining hall and Quillish was left to talk with the caretaker of the orphanage.

"He doesn't seem to want to talk to anybody any better than before you came, Mister Wammy."

"On the contrary, I find him a delight to talk with. He is an extremely intelligent young man—but not very trusting I'm afraid. I would like to speak with you about perhaps becoming his primary caretaker and teacher. He is far too advanced to do well in the classes other kids his age are taking and it doesn't seem as though he'd do very well in a class with other children anyway. I'd like to teach him at his own pace."

"So you'd like to adopt him?"

"Yes, I would."

"Well, he certainly has seemed to warm up to you and I know with the utmost certainty that you would be able to take very good care of him. Have you discussed this with him yet?"

"No I have not."

"I'll get the papers ready while you talk with him, and—if he agrees—come meet me in my office."

Quillish was reading a book in L's room when he walked in.

"Mister Wammy? You're still here? I would've thought you'd be long gone by now."

"Well L, I have something very important to talk to you about and I didn't feel it could wait."

"What's that?"

Quillish put down his book, leaned down so he was face to face with L, and put his hand on his shoulders.

"L, how would you like to come live with me? I would teach you and you could learn about whatever you want at your own pace and do whatever you want—so long as it's legal and won't harm you."

L put his thumb to his mouth and looked thoughtful for a moment.

"You want to adopt _me_?" He asked slowly.

Quillish nodded with a smile on his face.

"That sounds…nice," L said, smiling.


	2. Sherlock Holmes

**A/N: Sorry this is so short, I'll try to make the next chapter longer...**

* * *

L stared in awe at the house that Quillish lived in.

"Your house is _huge_ Mister Wammy!"

Quillish laughed.

"You're forgetting, L; it's your house too. Now come on, I'll show you to your room and we can get you settled in."

L followed Quillish through the house to the top floor to a room at the end of the hall.

"L, this will be your bedroom. It's right across the hall from mine and down at the other end of the hall is the library. You're welcome to explore the house and do whatever you like, I have a bit of work to do but if you need anything you can get to my office by going down the stairs, turning right, and it's the third door on the left."

"Thank you Mister Wammy."

"You're very welcome L, and you may call me Quillish if you like."

Quillish walked to his office and L set about exploring the house. He was very curious and wanted to know more about Mister Wammy but was too shy to ask. L supposed in order to find more things out about Mister Wammy he would start with his bedroom.

L walked in and looked around. There were big blue curtains on a huge picture window, from which he could see the whole city. He looked around some more and found several photos—the people in them he supposed were Mister Wammy's family. He set the pictures down and walked over to see what Mister Wammy had on the nightstand. The only things he had were a book and a lamp. He picked up the book and read the title; "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes". Curious, he sat down on the bed and quickly became engulfed in the book—enjoying solving the mysteries before the answers were given at the end of the stories.

Quillish Wammy looked at his watch, stood up, and walked upstairs. He knocked on L's door and when he received no response he called softly,

"L?"

He opened the door and—finding that L wasn't in his room—proceeded to look in the other rooms of the house. The next place he checked was the library, then the kitchen and the dining room, then his office, and finally he went back upstairs to his own room. He opened the door to his room to find L fast asleep on his bed with several Sherlock Holmes books lying around him. He smiled, picked up the books, tucked L in, and went back to his office.


	3. Observational Skills

**A/N: So this chapter is slightly longer but not really, sorry. I'm working on making them longer though. Hopefully I'll succeed with the next chapter...**

* * *

Two years later, L found himself with an amount of knowledge that could surpass any man. He was fluent in six languages, found physics and chemistry easy, and could tell you the extensive history of nearly any country at any given time—not to mention he could quote any Sherlock Holmes story ever written. The only thing he seemed to lack was people skills. Now, as any parent would be, Quillish was worried about L's lack of the ability to communicate with other people so, naturally, he did what he could do; he made sure that L would meet many different people and gave him a chance to play with kids his own age by taking him to the local park. L didn't like this idea very much but when Quillish explained it would be a great way to work on his observational skills he finally agreed.

Over the years, L had managed to acquire some quirks and strange mannerisms that—much to Quillish's dismay—caused the other kids to find him very weird and, therefore, unfit to play with them—such as; slouching, sticking his thumb in his mouth while thinking, not wearing shoes, and sitting in a sort of crouch on his feet rather than on his behind. And, while he would never have admitted it, the other kids' rejection bothered L. He knew he was strange and that the way he acted was weird but he never thought that kids could be so cruel. He thought through this thoroughly as he sat on a bench and watched the other kids play.

While he was observing the kids he realized that he wasn't the only one sitting by himself. He stared intently across the playground at a girl about his age, sitting in the grass, wearing a metal brace on her leg, and looking very left out. He thought for a moment and, realizing she probably wasn't going to do anything horrible to him, walked over to her and sat down next to her. She glanced over at him and, after a minute or two, wordlessly offered him a lollipop from a bag she had next to her. He took it and smiled slowly at her and she smiled back. They never said a word to each other and, after that day, they never saw each other again but L knew that he had made his first friend, even if he couldn't make their friendship last forever.

On the ride back home the words exchanged between Quillish and L were few and far between. Both were exhausted from the time at the park, however, Quillish managed to ask one thing;

"how was your day at the park, L?"

"It was very productive Mister Wammy, I learned many things…"

Quillish smiled and nodded like he understood and L stared out the window at the trees and houses passing by and smiled.


	4. First Case

A week after the day in the park, L came across some old police files in Quillish's office. Curious, he brought them to Quillish, asking what they were for.

"These are just old cases that have been dropped. I was interested to see if I could solve them but, unfortunately, I've found myself in the same position as the police. These cases just seem rather impossible."

"May I try to solve them Mister Wammy?"

"Of course, L."

L sat down next to Quillish and set to work looking through the files, checking the evidence, and organizing the suspects alphabetically and then rearranging the suspects according to his suspicions.

"Mister Wammy, are you sure these cases haven't been solved already?"

"Yes L, I'm absolutely positive."

"But…the answers are so obvious…"

"Oh, really? Well, who do you think it is?"

L then proceeded to explain who the culprits were and explain how he came to his conclusions. Quillish sat for several minutes—absolutely shocked that L could solve those cases, especially so quickly.

After a while, Quillish asked L if he would like to call in to the police station and let them know the answers to the cases.

"Yes, but…Mister Wammy I think you should call it in…they wouldn't believe a nine-year-old boy but they'd believe you."

"You may be right but I think now would be the perfect time to test something I've been working on. You may have heard of this before but I'm trying to make it a little better."

Quillish pulled out a small electronic device and plugged it into the telephone.

"This is a voice modifier, it can change your voice to sound very different, it can sound completely digitized or like a woman or a grown man. I'm trying to make it smaller so it will work with cellular phones too and not be very conspicuous."

"So, this could make me sound like almost anyone?"

"Precisely, would you like to try it out?"

L stared at the phone for a minute, deep in thought. Finally, he nodded and Quillish handed it to him. L set it to the digital voice and dialed the number.

"Winchester police station," a deep voice answered.

L proceeded to explain the cases he had solved. When he was through there was nothing but silence for several minutes and L wondered if they had hung up. Finally they responded;

"thank you Mister…uh…"

"L."

"L?"

"L."

"Right…well…thank you L, we'll review what you've told us and hopefully we'll finally have the right people behind bars."

L hung up the phone, grabbed a book, and sat down in the chair by Quillish's desk.

"L, you did a remarkable job of solving those cases…I'm very proud of you."

L looked up and smiled.

"Thank you Mister Wammy, that means a lot."


	5. Insomnia

Short chapter is short and lame ending is lame...sorry people, I'll try to make the next chapter longer and better...

* * *

Three years—and several cases—later, L had solved numerous cases and saved countless lives. Quillish was now not only his caretaker, but sort of his spokesperson as well, under the alias of Watari.

L sat and stared at multiple computer screens. He had just solved the case of several murders, all kids his own age, but he couldn't stop looking at the photos he had received as evidence. Thirteen kids; all mutilated almost beyond recognition—it would be enough to shake even the bravest man and L was just a boy of twelve—if he had been a normal kid it would've scarred him for life. Of course, he had reasoned, he was L. Already the world's greatest detective at twelve years old. He figured he should be able to handle it.

Quillish walked in to check on L and immediately knew something was up.

"L, are you alright?"

L turned slowly and stared at him as though he'd just noticed he was there.

"It's two-o-clock in the morning, L. You solved that case five hours ago, you should be in bed."

L turned back to the screens and shook his head.

"I'm sorry Watari, I couldn't sleep."

Quillish walked over to where he was sitting and shut the screens off. L turned to Quillish,

"why did you do that?"

"This isn't healthy L, you shouldn't be staying up so late, and you shouldn't be staring at photos like that all night. It isn't good for your mental well-being."

"I am well aware of that Watari."

Quillish frowned. L looked down at his hands and noticed he was shaking. He quickly put his hands in his pockets and hopped down off of his chair to the floor.

"I believe I will go to bed now Watari, goodnight."

L shuffled to his bedroom, closing the door behind him, leaving Watari in the dark, shaking his head.

L lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. No matter what he tried, he couldn't fall asleep. Every time he closed his eyes, the images of the dead children kept creeping back into his mind. He shuddered and turned on his side to stare out the window. He knew that if he was going to keep being a detective he couldn't let things like this bother him so much, however, he also knew that he was still just a kid and that these things would take some time to get used to—if he ever got used to them. He knew if he went to sleep he would have nightmares, and nightmares were not his idea of a good night's sleep. So, he vowed to stay awake until exhaustion forced his hand and made him pass out where he was, or until he got desensitized enough to where the images would no longer bother him and he would no longer have to worry about terrifying nightmares.

Quillish went through the files on L's computer and deleted the pictures L had been staring at. He had to admit, the pictures disturbed him and he could only imagine how much it must have bothered L. He had seen how L was shaking when he had left to go to his room. He was worried about him. He could only hope L wouldn't react too drastically.


	6. Wammy's House

A/N: Super short chapter is really super short, sorry people! Next one will be longer I swear!! ^^ Also I don't know how or why L ended up in the hospital, he just got hurt. Feel free to use your imaginations. (And actually I'd like to hear your thoughts on what happened, I think they'd be pretty interesting so please tell me if you come up with something! ^^)

* * *

Four years later L found himself waking up in a hospital bed after having solved an extremely dangerous case. Watari had a very concerned and worried look on his face.

"You were very lucky in that case L…we almost lost you."

L sat up and thought—habitually sticking his thumb in his mouth.

"These cases just keep getting more and more dangerous," Watari stated quietly and L nodded in agreement.

"Perhaps I need to find someone to take over the position of L, in the event that something should happen that leaves me unable to continue working."

Watari nodded, "I've begun to compile a list of ways for finding a potential successor but before I tell you I would like to know, what do you think we should do?"

L thought for a moment, "I think we should find intelligent children and train them to become the next L."

Watari nodded again, "that is exactly what I was thinking, and I know how to do it as well."

"Go on."

"Even before this came up I was thinking of creating an orphanage for exceptionally bright children. If you recall, you yourself weren't exactly at the same level as the other children at the orphanage I got you from. This way the children we find can come and learn at their own pace, however fast, and we can monitor their progress and see who would be best suited to take the title of L."

"That sounds like it would work very well. But who would be the caretaker of the orphanage? You often come with me on cases, I don't really see how you could do both."

"I was thinking my friend Roger would be well suited for that job."

L nodded and leaned against the wall.

"Perhaps you should get some rest L," Watari said, standing up.

L yawned and nodded again.

"I'll contact Roger and get everything set up; you just stay here and sleep."

Watari turned off the light and walked out the door as L shut his eyes.


End file.
